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ERIC Number: EJ1280941
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0954-0253
EISSN: N/A
'You're All so Good with Poo Here': Mainstream Media Representations of the Early Years Educator
Chang-Kredl, Sandra; Pauls, Katherine; Foster, Katherine
Gender and Education, v33 n1 p103-118 2021
The undervaluing of early years educators reflects entrenched societal beliefs. We analyse representations of early years educators in 32 popular media texts through the lens of scholarship on care work and Bourdieu's notion of symbolic capital, with the view that working conditions for educators and symbolic representations of educators reinforce one another. The majority of the texts present images that reinforce societal assumptions about the early years educator as relatively unskilled and peripheral. One media text, Little Acorns [2016a. "Bad Parents" [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/_qrdruNu768; 2016b. "Sleazy Dad" [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/8NIlvNIl1lU], offered portrayals of female educators as complex characters with varied capacities and agencies. We argue that Little Acorns provides a beginning point for imagining forms of feminist success that are inclusive of educators, namely by placing educators and their work as central to the narrative, and that interrogating these popular media representations can contribute to attending to the rights of the predominantly female, working-class, and diverse early childhood workforce.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A